Political Quotes

“I rise to discuss this urgent issue of pensions and our legislative proposal to address this looming crisis. I commend and salute the work of Senator Manchin, my colleague from West Virginia, for his indefatigable work on this. There are probably a few other words I could use for his determination over time, and not just over months but literally now over years, as well as Senator Kaine's, from Virginia, and Senator Brown's, who will follow me. We are grateful for this combination of States coming together to stand up for workers. We know this discussion on the floor of the Senate takes place at a significant time. The House Ways and Means Committee just passed the bipartisan Butch Lewis Act, H.R. 397, on the 10th of July. The House is taking much needed action, and it is long past time that the U.S. Senate does the same. In my home State, there is a whole group of workers. Obviously, miners are a big part of this, the Teamsters, Bakery and Confectionery Workers, all of whom, through no fault of their own, are seeing their hard-earned pensions threatened. Failure to act could result in devastating economic consequences to communities across both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well as throughout the Nation. Tens of thousands of pensions of Pennsylvanians could be at risk, including-- and these are just some of the numbers--11,831 coal miners and 21,460 Teamsters.…”